


Handle With Care

by Recourse



Series: Perennials [2]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Abortion, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 13:42:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9742142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Recourse/pseuds/Recourse
Summary: Valentine's Day completely blows when you're trying to pretend you don't have a crush on the Abstinence Club leader.(A side-story forBloom.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! No Bloom this week because I just spent the entire weekend moving heavy things and buying expensive crap as I relocate to my first apartment with my two best friends in the entire world. Hope you enjoy this cute little Valentine's Day gift instead!

Dana sighs as she gets up from her chair, thanking God silently that this is the last class of the day. Bad enough that she has to sit next to Juliet, who’s _still_ not over their fight from Christmas Break and won’t speak to her (Dana was not trying to steal him, for fuck’s sake), but it’s Valentine’s Day and she’s a little sick of seeing flowers delivered to all her classes.

It’s not that she’s lonely. She’s not. Dana’s not sure if she’s ever been happier, actually. Falling into Kate’s circle of friends has been so good for her, and she’s not blind to it. The Vortex Club doesn’t really hold appeal anymore.

But every flower she sees just reminds her of the last time she thought she’d found love, or at least someone half-decent. As she wanders the halls, the words from Logan’s half-assed apology float through her head, and she can feel the onset of Resting Bitch Face. He hasn’t even talked to her since the abortion. Paid his money and pretended nothing happened.

Her phone buzzes as she exits the building onto the quad.

**Kate:**

_Hey, can you come by my room when you get a chance?_

Yeah.

And that.

It’s not the first time Dana’s had a crush on an unavailable girl (she winces at her memory of coming out to Juliet back in middle school and the whole way _that_ went down), but it certainly hurts the worst. Kate is so...cuddly, and affectionate, and soft and kind and pretty and _god damn_ she has it bad. The worst thing is, sometimes it feels like they’re already a couple, the way Kate will talk her through her bad days, the way Dana hugs her and holds her close when what happened in October is getting to her. The way Kate smiles whenever she sees Dana, the lights flipping on in her eyes.

Today it might be too much. Sure, Dana can always fake her way through their talks, their hangouts, their volunteer work together, but it always hurts after, pretending she doesn’t feel this way. And she’s slipped up a few times, she knows she has.

But she can’t leave Kate on her own, today of all days. Hopefully it’s not for some ‘Single’s Day’ celebration, though. That might just flat-out kill her.

**Me:**

_Of course! Be there soon_

Too eager? Probably. Dana always feels she’s too _something_ around Kate. But the message has already been sent, and the _See you then!_ from Kate’s phone doesn’t ring any alarm bells.

She swallows and continues her walk to the dorms. She dumps her backpack in her room and takes a seat on the edge of her bed, gathering her breath for a moment. It’s fine. This is a good thing. Being friends with Kate is a good thing, why do you want to ruin that so badly? Why can’t you stop being a bisexual disaster for ten seconds?

She gets up. Bigfoot pride, Dana. Be strong and unassailable and a dependable, loyal friend. Is that a common trait for sasquatches?

She heads down the hall and knocks on Kate’s door. This is probably something totally normal like a homework assignment she wants help on. _She wants help on those a lot,_ Dana reflects, _even though her GPA is a full point higher than mine..._

“It’s open!” Kate calls, her voice a little higher and wavier than usual. Dana shrugs and opens the door.

Kate stands in the middle of her room, hands behind her back. She swallows. “Hey, Dana,” she offers as Dana closes the door behind her.

“So what’s up?” Dana asks. “Everything all right?”

“Yeah, I just...” Kate’s eyes dart nervously around the room, seeming to avoid a general Dana-sized area. “So, Dana, I...We’ve been spending a lot of time together lately...”

Dana’s fingers clench. Shit. Shit shit shit. She knows. This is exactly what Dana didn’t want. “Kate—” she blurts out, but Kate continues on.

“And it’s been great, and I, I really like being your friend, you’ve been there for me so much, and I...I think...”

“Kate, it’s...” Dana’s not even sure where to start. Kate’s looking down at her feet. Dana joins her, feeling awkward and unwanted. It’s never like this between them. It shouldn’t be like this between them.

“Dana.”

Dana looks up.

Kate’s holding a single rose in front of her, half hiding her (very very red) face behind it.

“Dana, would you...” Kate’s words are small and struggling. Dana’s mouth is dry. “Would you want to...”

Dana can feel a grin spreading across her face. “Be your valentine?” she offers, taking a step closer.

Kate nods fervently.

Dana closes the distance between them and plucks the rose from her hands. “Of course,” she says softly. Their eyes meet, and this is when Dana should kiss her. Right? That’s how this works? But what if Kate’s not ready for that? This is the leader of the Abstinence Club, for God’s sake. Which was part of the whole reason Dana thought this wouldn’t work, usually if someone’s that religious, they have some _other_ opinions about romance.

Dana decides to just embrace her. Let her take the lead. Kate buries her face in Dana’s chest, holding onto her tight.

“I...kinda thought you weren’t...” Dana struggles for words.

“Ever since Halloween I was trying to figure it out,” Kate admits.

Dana remembers. Holding Kate in her arms on the couch as they both slowly passed into sleep, giant monsters and mechs fighting on the screen before them. She’d been drunk and happy and Kate had seemed so willing.

Honestly, she should’ve seen it coming.

“I’m glad you did,” Dana whispers.

“I didn’t do it on my own,” Kate says with a laugh. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I hadn’t kept dumping on Max.”

Dana grins. “Of course.” God bless that little sprite of a girl, running around Blackwell helping everyone she can. They may not hang out often, but Dana’s always grateful for her presence in the periphery of her life.

“Oh, um...” Kate draws back, taking hold of Dana’s hand and holding tight. Their fingers intertwine like they were machined for exactly this purpose. Dana squeezes. Kate giggles, pulling Dana to the back of the room and grabbing her phone. “I need to tell her I actually managed to go through with this.”

“Go ahead.”

She snaps a picture of their linked hands and quickly lets go to shoot off something to Max, then embraces Dana again.

“Do you want to stay here for a while? I-if you’ve got things to do—” she begins, but Dana’s on top of that.

“It’s Valentine’s Day and I just got a girlfriend. Nothing else matters.”

Dana feels goosebumps rise on Kate’s skin at the word _girlfriend._ Nailed it.

“Okay. I, um, I have a lot to tell you,” Kate says softly, leading Dana over to the couch and sitting down with her. She leans her head on Dana’s shoulder, smiling like crazy.

“Then let’s hear it.”

**Author's Note:**

>   
>  _This time hoping for the better_   
>  _I been down since like, forever_   
>  _For the next twenty-four hours_   
>  _I'm yours, and the world is ours._   
> 


End file.
